Drugs/Therapy

Ebola Crisis Response Too Low, Experts

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Nov 23, 2015 09:22 AM EST

The Ebola outbreak that began in 2013 claimed more than 11,000 people all over the world and according to the report submitted by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, further reforms are required to prevent disasters in the future. The most badly affected countries include Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. This report reveals that these countries were not able to detect the virus in time or respond to the outbreak rapidly which made the Ebola become a "worldwide crisis". The report particularly condemned WHO who did not declare Ebola an international public health emergency, until five months after Liberia and Guinea informed about the outbreaks. It also said that WHO did not meet the responsibilities of responding to the outbreak because of poor leadership.

After the world started to responding to the crisis eventually towards the end of 2014, it was not only slow and inflexible but also ill-coordinated. "The reputation and credibility of the WHO has suffered a particularly fierce blow," the report said. The panel also condemned some political leaders of using this catastrophe by downplaying it and not asking for help in time. The report makes recommendation for the improving the protocol so that these outbreaks can be dealt with more efficiently in the future. It is also recommended to create a center for outbreak response at the WHO with its own budget. A global fund must be set up to finance the r&d of drugs that will be help in treatment of infectious conditions, as reported by BBC News.

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